The Effects of Aging on Taurine Content and Biosynthesis in Different Strains of Rats

Abstract

Taurine has been postulated to have enantiostatic properties to stabilize cellular functions when challenged with external or internal stressors such as perturbations in calcium, free radicals or osmolality11. Taurine content has been found to decline with advancing age in a number of tissues in rodents8. A decrease in intracellular taurine during senescence would likely further exacerbate the well documented age-related declines in antioxidant defense systems, calcium regulation, and membrane integrity3,10. We have previously found that taurine content was decreased in a number of tissues in Fischer 344 rats (F344) and that this decline was not attributable to a failure in the renal conservation of taurine9. This has lead us to examine the biosynthesis of taurine to determine if it declines during aging and whether altered biosynthesis could be a possible mechanism contributing to the age-related decline in tissue taurine content.